Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine! But this is one thing with Tekken. Tekken 6 is a game that came out in 2009 and Tekken 7 came out to consoles in 2017. So the games do have a significant time apart -- so why did Tekken 7 turn out the way it did ? I had a very high expectation but it came crashing low. Although it's no secret that I tend to prefer Tekken 5 over Tekken 6 in my ranking list  -- I still don't want to deny that I do like Tekken 6 even with some minor issues. I still WTF at the diversion where I must play through Scenario Campaign to unlock the character endings. It also sucks that Lars doesn't have his own ending too except for completing Scenario Campaign. Gameplay Okay, I can talk about the game's weaknesses such as the slower loading times and maybe the rage system can be imbalanced. I admit, the rage system can be very annoying and that was fixed in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Sometimes, I can't decide which is more frustr...

While Aladdin (2019) had some good remakes such as Will Smith as the Genie or the new rendition of the classic song "A Whole New World" -- Lion King (2019) just fails to get what made Scar truly menacing. I can still remember this scene sent me chills that made The Lion King (1994) a real classic. The voices, the music, and just EVERYTHING about that movie made it a worthy classic. Just listen to how Scar (1994) was really that menacing that you'd hate his character while loving the voice behind him. But Scar (2019) is pretty much too robotic! You can see the problem when an old school ends up shaming the new school! Shouldn't the new school seek to get better? Unfortunately, this isn't the case with the "Be Prepared" song sung in 2019!

The Lion King originally had an intended (but fortunately deleted) love triangle that would happen between Simba and Scar for Nala. Scar decided to make Nala his queen so he can have a pack of little Scars. It would be disgusting considering the fact that Nala is, in fact, young enough to be Scar's daughter just like how Jafar is old enough to be Jasmine's father. So why do I actually ship the whole love triangle that happened in the remake (but sadly, dull) movie? It deepens the very petty stupidity of Scar. Scar is obsessed with Sarabi and he wants to make her his . He kills Mufasa not only for the throne but also for his sister-in-law he so covets. He's a sore loser and doesn't want to accept his losses. The scene in the original Lion King having Scar hit Sarabi somewhat hinted he did have feelings for her. Remember when Sarabi mentions Mufasa and Scar gets mad? I always assumed that there must have been a love triangle between brothers -- something that wa...

Classic Mortal Kombat is something I'd say I can do without. Sure, Mortal Kombat (2011) is already about to enter the old school cabinet by 2021 -- I'd still say it'd be a classic that would probably make everyone forget about Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 or even Mortal Kombat II which is considered a fan favorite. Then I remembered how I wished Playstation Network would release Mortal Kombat Trilogy though it didn't. Then I thought that the more I play MK (2011) or MK9 -- the more the classic games just fade out even while I wished that many of the classic elements were included in the innovation. It's like I wish that stuff like certain classic fatalities (such as Kano's skeleton rip and Shang Tsung's soul steal), that Brutalities were added like Killer Instinct's Ultra Combos (that is a combo ender with a specific button combination than a string of combos), and that we've had Friendships. But there's no perfect game, right? So what makes me di...

I wrote to why I think Mortal Kombat 11 is better than the rather disappointing Tekken 7 . Now, I'd like to do the reverse and do a #ThrowbackThursdays with two games that came out in 2011 namely Mortal Kombat (2011) or termed as MK9 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (TTT2) which for me is my current top favorite Tekken game. So how where would I start with this rant? Some single-player content Okay, I'd be crazy to use MK9's Story Mode as a plus at this point. This was a time when the Story Mode doesn't matter much and maybe I do still consider the lore of Tekken 6 to be deeper than MK9. But how do I want to talk about single-player content in Tekken Tag Tournament 2? A story mode isn't necessary for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (due to it being a fanservice game) - there are many other modes that MK9 could've had but never had. I would consider these modes from TTT2 to be better than MK9. Do you remember MK9's tutorial mode? I would say TTT2's Combot Train...

Whenever there's a remake -- I set a low bar these days. I was expecting Aladdin (2019) to be disappointing BUT I was amazed at how Will Smith made a good Genie, a less pretty Princess Jasmine has its own charm, and maybe a younger Jafar made the whole lust scenario less disgusting. But now, I'd like to drag the attention to Mulan. Liu Yi Fei did act well in the Forbidden Kingdom movie where she did well. But she didn't appear in any more Hollywood movies after that. My beef with most American films these days is how deteriorated most of them have become. I remembered how I thought the Beauty and the Beast (2017) movie just lacks the life or maybe it was just because Emma Watson's not hot enough to be Belle. The scenario of Mulan (2020) is different because now Yi Fei is more than hot enough to be Mulan. But is her being Mulan just a desperate bailout and hoping to use her beauty to win a score. Though Yi Fei in due fairness has been more known for her thorns tha...

While playing MK11 and yup Shang Tsung is now paid DLC -- you can still think about how MK9 should've had references to Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa and even have him voice Shang Tsung! The reason has to be because one, Shang Tsung's younger self looks somewhat like Kabai Singh (though the face looks more like Ian Anthony Dale) in the Phantom and the phrase, "Your soul is mine!" is referenced a lot. Even the whole opening has a reference in the movie with the boat. So how could Tagawa references be inserted with or without the actor? You need to really think about the opening scene. We may not need the dinner reenactment done in story mode but I think it should've happened. Then we can have the scene where the masked guards suddenly waste the food. Shang Tsung can say, "Now for a taste of thing to come." before Johnny Cage is brought in as the first combatant to fight. Just think of that for a moment. Johnny's first fight was really a taste of things to ...

It's no secret that both Jiban and later Janperson were obviously inspired by Robocop. Jiban as a show had Space Sheriff Gavan references (and some of the themes were used such as the battle theme and the laser blade). It's also said that Gavan's design inspired Robocop too. I guess it comes full circle when Jiban makes references to both Gavan and Robocop. Later, Janperson would keep the Robocop spirit alive even when he has no human past (unlike Jiban and Robocop) to speak of. Aside from having the obvious handgun (and Janperson's design appeals to me more) -- both of them have some kind of blade. Jiban used his sword to destroy Bioron monsters. Janperson would seldom use the Jan Blader to defeat some android minions sent against him by Neo Guild. Janperson would even use his Jan Blader to finally give Bill Goldy a rather gory finish too!  Jiban had his dual cannon called the Daidaros. Janperson had a robotic assistant named Zic who would later become t...

Like it or not -- some 90s children may have remembered the late 80s show Jiban on its re-runs. Okay, I don't like IBC-13 for being such a douche with replaying shows all over again -- though I still cherish these shows in part. Now, there may be some stuff you never noticed in Jiban while growing up! I remembered how I never noticed Dr. Giba's actor was actually a white man voiced over by Shozo Iizuka. I never noticed the lips didn't really match either. I wonder why Toei decided to get a white man to act as Dr. Giba when they could still get a Japanese actor to do the job. Then maybe, another one you may have missed is this one... Yes, Scorpina (that's Lami in Zyuranger) herself was in Jiban as one of Dr. Giba's secretaries namely Karsha (the one in red). I guess back then children just cheered at Mighty Morphin' without thinking much. They may have never noticed that Rita Repulsa was a guest star in Maskman (as Baraba's mother) or Gavan (as Honey M...